He's trimmed 20 pounds off his wide frame since UCLA was defeated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, when his disappointing freshman season came to an unceremonious end. But Parker's winter of discontent seems so long ago now.

It's a new season and on this July afternoon, he's in an especially good mood. He cracks a joke in his usual deadpan about UCLA's new coach, Steve Alford, and his plans to use cow-tipping in the team's conditioning plans.

The new situation in Westwood has certainly helped to lighten Parker's mood. He raves about UCLA's new strength and conditioning program and new assistant Ed Schilling. They've made all the difference, he says – and there's optimism in his voice when he says it. An unassuming grin creeps across his face, and just as it fades, it becomes apparent that UCLA's enigmatic big man has shed more than just weight this offseason.

"(Last year) was a tough year, but it was a perfect thing to happen to me," Parker said in an interview with the Register. "I felt like I had done everything in high school. I'd won four straight state championships, McDonald's All-American, two gold medals ... I did absolutely everything."

Parker shipped off for Westwood last season as part of the Bruins' nationally vaunted freshmen quartet. But as Shabazz Muhammad, Kyle Anderson and Jordan Adams burst on to the scene in their opening seasons, Parker remained in their shadows. Averaging just over six minutes per game – the least of any scholarship player on UCLA's roster – he managed just 2.4 points and 1.2 rebounds. He was too slow at times, and too out of shape to play extended minutes. Injuries became nagging. Still, he felt he deserved more playing time and pouted, on occasion, when he didn't get it. And as the season wore on, as his classmates' impressive success grew, Parker couldn't shake the feeling of failure.

"You can imagine," his father, Virgil Parker, said this week. "You're with a bunch of other freshmen, other high-profile kids, and you've got this plan. And then, you're the one that's left out."

"There were a lot of late nights," Parker added, "but I think I really needed it."

One late night, two days before his first Christmas spent away from Georgia, Parker's frustration and loneliness reached a fevered pitch. The marriage between him and the bright lights of Los Angeles just wasn't working. The people there weren't his people. He missed Atlanta. He missed the people and their Southern sensibilities.

That tweet and a few others would incite a firestorm of speculation about whether Parker might leave UCLA after, or even during, the season. He refused to comment on whether he regretted his decision to come in the first place, but was still vocal about his displeasure on social media. In both Los Angeles and Atlanta, the conversation of whether Parker would stay a Bruin labored on.

Parker's mother, Hazel, put her foot down early. He wouldn't be allowed to leave during the season. He'd finish what he started, she decreed. But did Parker belong in Los Angeles in the long run? Neither he, nor his family seemed to know for sure.

UCLA's season ended in a haze with Parker's decision continuing to loom like a low-hanging cloud. Former coach Ben Howland was fired, and while Howland was never Parker's most pressing concern about UCLA, his disciplinarian, tough-love persona never truly jibed with Parker's. But in Steve Alford, the Bruins' new coach, Parker saw a bit of himself – an outsider, trying to fit in far from home.

"With Tony, he needs his love and his support," said Jordan Adams, who met Parker in Atlanta when they were 10. "The (new) coaches, they make him feel more at home and more loved and more welcome."

Most of all, Parker loathed the idea of sitting out a season, considering how much time he'd spent on the bench already. The decision, then, seemed easier. He tweeted out the news. "UCLA I'm a Bruin," the tweet read.

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